scholarly journals Effects of Age-Related Stereotype Threat on Metacognition

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha Y. Fourquet ◽  
Tara K. Patterson ◽  
Changrui Li ◽  
Alan D. Castel ◽  
Barbara J. Knowlton
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Stereotype Threat ◽  
Executive Control ◽  
Present Experiment ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Decline ◽  
Impaired Performance ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Metacognitive Judgments ◽  
Modest Effect

Previous work has shown that memory performance in older adults is affected by activation of a stereotype of age-related memory decline. In the present experiment, we examined whether stereotype threat would affect metamemory in older adults; that is, whether under stereotype threat they make poorer judgments about what they could remember. We tested older adults (MAge = 66.18 years) on a task in which participants viewed words paired with point values and “bet” on whether they could later recall each word. If they bet on and recalled a word, they gained those points, but if they bet on and failed to recall a word, they lost those points. Thus, this task required participants to monitor how much they could remember and prioritize high value items. Participants performed this task over six lists of items either under stereotype threat about age-related memory decline or not under stereotype threat. Participants from both groups performed similarly on initial lists, but on later lists, participants under stereotype threat showed impaired performance as indicated by a lower average point score and a lower average gamma coefficient. The results suggest that a modest effect of stereotype threat on recall combined with a modest effect on metacognitive judgments to result in a performance deficit. This pattern of results may reflect an effect of stereotype threat on executive control reducing the ability to strategically use memory.

The effects of stereotype threat on the associative memory deficit of older adults

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Matthew S. Brubaker
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Stereotype Threat ◽  
Associative Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Memory Deficit ◽  
Item Memory ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Associative Deficit ◽  
Negative Effect

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] One of the suggestions made in the literature regarding older adults' episodic memory decline is that it is caused by their reduced ability to bind together components of an episode and retrieve the binding (termed an associative deficit). The purpose of the current research is to assess whether the age-related associative memory deficit is at least partially mediated by stereotype threat, which has been shown to negatively affect performance on a wide variety of cognitive tasks, including memory performance of older adults. To date the effects of stereotype threat on older adults' memory performance have only been shown using tests of item memory, and between subject manipulations. The question assessed in the current research is whether older adults' associative memory will be affected by stereotype threat more than item memory, rendering it one potential factor underlying the associative deficit. To answer this question, three experiments were conducted, which used an item-associative recognition memory paradigm while manipulating stereotype threat both within and between subjects. The first two experiments attempted to establish the baseline effect by directly comparing item and associative memory in younger and older adults under induced stereotype threat, reduced stereotype threat, and no stereotype threat (i.e. control) conditions. While a baseline age-related associative deficit was not shown in the control condition, inducing stereotype threat did have a significant negative effect on older adults' associative memory performance without affecting item memory performance -- suggesting that stereotype threat does increase the age-related associative deficit. The third experiment further assessed the stage of processing -- encoding, retrieval, or both -- during which the effect of stereotype threat on older adults' memory occurs. Results showed that when stereotype threat was induced only at retrieval, memory performance was in line with performance with the reduced stereotype threat and control conditions, suggesting that this effect of stereotype threat occurs primarily during encoding of the information.

scholarly journals Age differences in strategic reminder setting and the compensatory role of metacognition

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Scarampi ◽  
Sam Gilbert
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Prospective Memory ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Metacognitive Knowledge ◽  
Memory Decline ◽  
Impaired Performance ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Cognitive Offloading

Previous research has shown that older adults can have difficulty remembering to fulfil delayed intentions. In the present study, we explored whether age differences in prospective memory are affected when participants are permitted to set reminders to help them remember. Furthermore, we examined whether metacognition can influence the use of such strategies and help older adults compensate for age-related memory decline. In this pre- registered study (N = 88) we administered a computerised task requiring a sample of older (aged 65-84) and younger (aged 18-30) participants to remember delayed intentions for a brief period, manipulating the possibility of setting reminders to create an external cue. Performance of the older group was significantly poorer than the younger group. Moreover, older adults were overconfident in their memory abilities and did not fully compensate for impaired performance, even when strategic reminder-setting was permitted. These findings suggest that older adults possess limited metacognitive knowledge about their prospective memory limits and may not fully utilise cognitive offloading strategies to compensate for memory decline.

scholarly journals Stereotype Threat Alters the Subjective Experience of Memory

2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 395-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Mazerolle ◽  
Isabelle Régner ◽  
François Rigalleau ◽  
Pascal Huguet
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Stereotype Threat ◽  
Age Differences ◽  
Subjective Experience ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Contextual Detail

Abstract. There is now evidence that negative age-related stereotypes about memory reduce older adults’ memory performance, and inflate age differences in this domain. Here, we examine whether stereotype threat may also influence the basic feeling that one is more or less able to remember. Using the Remember/Know paradigm, we demonstrated that stereotype threat conducted older adults to a greater feeling of familiarity with events, while failing to retrieve any contextual detail. This finding indicates that stereotype threat alters older adults’ subjective experience of memory, and strengthens our understanding of the mechanisms underlying stereotype threat effects.

scholarly journals The Dynamic Effects of Age-Related Stereotype Threat on Explicit and Implicit Memory Performance in Older Adults

2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 559-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teal S. Eich ◽  
Kou Murayama ◽  
Alan D. Castel ◽  
Barbara J. Knowlton
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Implicit Memory ◽  
Stereotype Threat ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Dynamic Effects ◽  
Age Related

scholarly journals Age-related alterations in functional connectivity along the longitudinal axis of the hippocampus and its subfields

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shauna M. Stark ◽  
Amy Frithsen ◽  
Craig E.L. Stark
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Medial Temporal Lobe ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Longitudinal Axis ◽  
Memory Decline ◽  
Hippocampal Subfields ◽  
Age Related

AbstractAging causes hippocampal circuit alterations that differentially affect hippocampal subfields and are associated with age-related memory decline. Additionally, functional organization along the longitudinal axis of the hippocampus has revealed distinctions between anterior and posterior (A-P) connectivity. Here, we examined the functional connectivity (FC) differences between young and older adults at high-resolution within the medial temporal lobe network (entorhinal, perirhinal, and parahippocampal cortices), allowing us to explore how hippocampal subfield connectivity across the longitudinal axis of the hippocampus changes with age. Overall, we found reliably greater connectivity for younger adults than older adults between the hippocampus and PHC and PRC. This drop in functional connectivity was more pronounced in the anterior regions of the hippocampus than the posterior ones, consistent for each of the hippocampal subfields. Further, intra-hippocampal connectivity also reflected an age-related decrease in functional connectivity within the anterior hippocampus in older adults that was offset by an increase in posterior hippocampal functional connectivity. Interestingly, the anterior-posterior shift in older adults between hippocampus and PHC was predictive of lure discrimination performance on the MST, suggesting that this shift may reflect a compensation mechanism that preserves memory performance. While age-related dysfunction within the hippocampal subfields has been well-documented, these results suggest that the age-related A-P shift in hippocampal connectivity may also contribute significantly to memory decline in older adults.

scholarly journals The Moderating Role of Education on the Relationship Between Perceived Stereotype Threat and False Memory in Aging

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Laure Gilet ◽  
Christelle Evrard ◽  
Jean-Michel Galharret ◽  
Fabienne Colombel
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Stereotype Threat ◽  
Recall Test ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Moderating Role

Studies regularly show that an age-based stereotype threat impairs older adults’ performance on memory tasks. Results regarding stereotype threat effects on false memories are less clear. Some studies suggest that education may moderate the relationship between an age-related stereotype threat and episodic memory performance in older adults. The present study aimed at examining the moderating role of education on the relationship between perceived stereotype threat (PST) and false memories in older adults. With this aim, 82 adults between 60 and 70 years of age performed a Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) task followed by a free recall test and completed questionnaires assessing both their perception of an age-based stereotype threat and their education level. Regression analyses showed no effect of PST on the production of critical lures. However, as was expected, our results showed that in higher educated older adults, as the perception of stereotype increases, the production of critical lures increases. These results confirm the moderating role of education and highlight its key role in the relationship between the age-based stereotype threat and older adults’ susceptibility to false memories.

Inefficient Encoding as an Explanation for Age-Related Deficits in Recollection-Based Processing

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 148-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Friedman ◽  
Ray Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Semantic Retrieval ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The Face ◽  
Episodic Memories

A cardinal feature of aging is a decline in episodic memory (EM). Nevertheless, there is evidence that some older adults may be able to “compensate” for failures in recollection-based processing by recruiting brain regions and cognitive processes not normally recruited by the young. We review the evidence suggesting that age-related declines in EM performance and recollection-related brain activity (left-parietal EM effect; LPEM) are due to altered processing at encoding. We describe results from our laboratory on differences in encoding- and retrieval-related activity between young and older adults. We then show that, relative to the young, in older adults brain activity at encoding is reduced over a brain region believed to be crucial for successful semantic elaboration in a 400–1,400-ms interval (left inferior prefrontal cortex, LIPFC; Johnson, Nessler, & Friedman, 2013 ; Nessler, Friedman, Johnson, & Bersick, 2007 ; Nessler, Johnson, Bersick, & Friedman, 2006 ). This reduced brain activity is associated with diminished subsequent recognition-memory performance and the LPEM at retrieval. We provide evidence for this premise by demonstrating that disrupting encoding-related processes during this 400–1,400-ms interval in young adults affords causal support for the hypothesis that the reduction over LIPFC during encoding produces the hallmarks of an age-related EM deficit: normal semantic retrieval at encoding, reduced subsequent episodic recognition accuracy, free recall, and the LPEM. Finally, we show that the reduced LPEM in young adults is associated with “additional” brain activity over similar brain areas as those activated when older adults show deficient retrieval. Hence, rather than supporting the compensation hypothesis, these data are more consistent with the scaffolding hypothesis, in which the recruitment of additional cognitive processes is an adaptive response across the life span in the face of momentary increases in task demand due to poorly-encoded episodic memories.

Fear of memory decline predicts lower quality of life and increased memory failures in older adults: Preliminary findings from a novel fear-avoidance of memory decline scale.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Farina ◽  
Marc Patrick Bennett ◽  
James William Griffith ◽  
Bert Lenaert
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Fear Avoidance ◽  
Subjective Memory ◽  
Memory Decline ◽  
General Anxiety ◽  
Quality Of Life Scale ◽  
The Impact

Evidence concerning the impact of fear of memory decline on health-related outcomes is limited. To determine the relationship between fear-avoidance of memory decline, quality of life and subjective memory in older adults using a novel scale to measure fear of memory decline. Sixty-seven older adults (59-81 years) completed a 23-item self-report questionnaire designed to capture experiential, cognitive and behavioral components of fear of memory decline, known as the fear and avoidance of memory decline (FAM) scale. Memory performance was assessed using the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS-IV) and the Memory Failures Scale (MFS). General anxiety was assessed using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS) and the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI). Quality of life was assessed using the Older Person’s Quality of Life scale (OPQOL-35). The FAM scale demonstrated good reliability and validity. Three latent factors were observed including: (1) fear-avoidance, (2) problematic beliefs and (3) resilience. After adjusting for age, education, memory performance and general anxiety, higher fear-avoidance predicted lower quality of life (p=.021) and increased memory failures (p=.022). Increased fear of memory decline predicts lower quality of life and subjective memory failures in healthy older adults. Based on these findings, we propose a preliminary fear-avoidance model that explains the development and maintenance of dementia-related functional disability in terms of psychological processes.

Elevated Inflammatory Markers and Arterial Stiffening Exacerbate Tau but Not Amyloid Pathology in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Alexandra L. Clark ◽  
Alexandra J. Weigand ◽  
Kelsey R. Thomas ◽  
Seraphina K. Solders ◽  
Lisa Delano-Wood ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Inflammatory Markers ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Cognitive Testing ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Protein Biomarkers ◽  
Age Related ◽  
T Tau

Background: Age-related cerebrovascular and neuroinflammatory processes have been independently identified as key mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), although their interactive effects have yet to be fully examined. Objective: The current study examined 1) the influence of pulse pressure (PP) and inflammatory markers on AD protein levels and 2) links between protein biomarkers and cognitive function in older adults with and without mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods: This study included 218 ADNI (81 cognitively normal [CN], 137 MCI) participants who underwent lumbar punctures, apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotyping, and cognitive testing. Cerebrospinal (CSF) levels of eight pro-inflammatory markers were used to create an inflammation composite, and amyloid-beta 1–42 (Aβ 42), phosphorylated tau (p-tau), and total tau (t-tau) were quantified. Results: Multiple regression analyses controlling for age, education, and APOE ɛ4 genotype revealed significant PP x inflammation interactions for t-tau (B = 0.88, p = 0.01) and p-tau (B = 0.84, p = 0.02); higher inflammation was associated with higher levels of tau within the MCI group. However, within the CN group, analyses revealed a significant PP x inflammation interaction for Aβ 42 (B = –1.01, p = 0.02); greater inflammation was associated with higher levels of Aβ 42 (indicative of lower cerebral amyloid burden) in those with lower PP. Finally, higher levels of tau were associated with poorer memory performance within the MCI group only (p s <  0.05). Conclusion: PP and inflammation exert differential effects on AD CSF proteins and provide evidence that vascular risk is associated with greater AD pathology across our sample of CN and MCI older adults.

The Impact of Stereotype Threat on Memory and Cognition in Older Adults

2021 ◽  
pp. 019394592110297
Author(s):  
Graham J. McDougall ◽  
Todd B. Monroe ◽  
Keenan A. Pituch ◽  
Michael A. Carter ◽  
Laurie Abbott
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Stereotype Threat ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Training Group ◽  
Memory Training ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Bivariate Correlation ◽  
The Impact

Cultural stereotypes that equate aging with decreased competence and increased forgetfulness have persisted for decades. Stereotype threat (ST) refers to the psychological discomfort people experience when confronted by a negative, self-relevant stereotype in a situation where their behavior could be construed as confirming that belief. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships of ST on memory performance in older adults over 24 months. The ST levels on average significantly declined, or improved in the memory training, but not the health training group. Although not significant at the .01 level, the bivariate correlation indicated that change in ST was moderately related to change in verbal memory, suggesting the possibility that improvements (or reductions) in ST may be related to increases in verbal memory scores. We discovered that the unique contribution of ST into the memory performance of healthy older adults offers a possible malleable trait.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document